The problem with water footprints outside of irrigated drylands

Mark Mulligan

Water International, 2022, vol. 47, issue 7, 1085-1107

Abstract: Virtual water – embedded in an agricultural commodity by virtue of evapotranspiration during crop growth – is effectively consumed by the purchaser. In water-poor economies, it breaks their dependence on local water-for-food and acts as a political stabilizer. Tony Allan’s concept remains highly relevant in the irrigated drylands for which it was developed, but calculating water footprints for agriculture elsewhere should take account of the non-agricultural counterfactual – which may consume more water than the agriculture that replaces it. Otherwise, use of water footprinting, for example, in trade policy, will be misleading and counterproductive.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1080/02508060.2022.2133815

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